Democrats should be getting used to this now. Every day seems to bring another bad poll and a gloom and doom prediction, alongside a bad economic indicator.

Today’s double whammy: Unemployment numbers will be out at 8:30 a.m. and a USA Today/Gallup poll shows the political environment worse than 1994 and 2006 for the party in power – both years in which control of Congress changed hands.

Unemployment numbers aren’t expected to be bad, but the overall outlook remains grim as the jobless rate floats around 9.5 percent. The White House wants another stimulus-like package – more tax breaks than spending – but it’s hard to see this Congress actually coming together on anything big before the election.

Good Friday morning and welcome to The Huddle.

DEM DISASTER LOOMING? That’s what the latest USA Today poll says: “Democratic congressional candidates face a political landscape even rockier than those in 1994 and 2006 that ended with election upheavals that changed control of Congress, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds. As the fall campaign begins in earnest over Labor Day weekend, dissatisfaction with the nation's direction is higher and support for the party in power lower than it was in those tumultuous midterms.

“This time, however, voters are more likely to say their vote reflects opposition to the party in power rather than support for the other side. Republicans are held in the same low regard as when the GOP lost control of Congress four years ago. That could create problems if they do score a net gain of 39 seats to control the House of Representatives or 10 seats to control the Senate.” http://bit.ly/9ynbR8

UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS: Out at 8:30, the dial shouldn’t move significantly off 9.5 percent, but the total job growth or decline will drive both the political and stock markets for the day.

DON’T CALL IT A STIMULUS: The Obama administration is considering a handful of measures – but it’s hard to see Congress lifting a finger on any major economic bills in September. Glenn Thrush in POLITICO: “The Obama administration is mulling a raft of emergency fixes to stimulate the economy before the midterms, including an extension of the research and development tax credit and new infrastructure spending, according to several people familiar with the situation.

“Administration officials have been huddling almost continuously during the past week, brainstorming for ideas that would boost employment without hiking the massive federal deficit – with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner rushing to the West Wing for further consultations late Thursday. The White House press office on Thursday refused to say how much a financial package might be, other than to say it won’t be a “second stimulus.” But the administration will have a tough time selling nearly any package to terrified, Obama-phobic Hill Democrats who increasingly blame the president – and his ambitious, expensive legislative agenda – for their dismal prospects this November.” http://politi.co/cHruHc

SENATE GOP GENDER GAP: Republicans have no female senators willing to take on leadership jobs now. Meredith Shiner in POLITICO: “Republicans have declared 2010 their “Year of the Woman,” but come January, the Senate GOP will be without a female on its leadership team for the first time in nearly a decade.

With Sen. Lisa Murkowski conceding to Joe Miller in the Alaska Republican primary earlier this week, Senate Republicans are left to choose from only three female senators — Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine — to fill her vice chairman position, which has long been a steppingstone for higher-level leadership jobs.

“But none of those three appear likely to lobby for the GOP’s No. 5 spot. “This isn't a good story to have in American politics, that when one woman leaves, there's no one to step in,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for Women and Politics at Rutgers University.” http://politi.co/adzeTI

OBAMA AND HOUSE DEMS: He’s helping with money, but is the president helping politically? Jennifer Bendery in Roll Call: “White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on Thursday defended President Barack Obama’s track record of campaigning for House Democrats as new polling shows their party taking a nose dive.

“…Asked why Obama did not spend much of the August recess on the campaign trail for Democrats, Gibbs maintained that the president has been “fairly active in both campaigning and in raising money” for his party. He said there is only so much that Obama can do, given the host of issues that will influence voters’ decisions in November.

“In a lot of these races, there are issues that are not going to be decided either in support of or opposition to the president,” Gibbs told reporters during a briefing.” http://bit.ly/b8n03f

ALASKA DEM WANTS HELP: Will the national party invest in the Alaska Senate race? Shane D’Aprile in The Hill: “Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) said Thursday he is pressuring national Democrats to take on Tea Party-backed Joe Miller (R) and invest in the state's Senate race.

“Begich, who will soon be the state's senior senator, said he is working to drum up support and national party backing for Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams (D) who will face Miller in November. "I'm putting the pressure on," Begich told The Hill. "We're working the DSCC and others right now because I think it's a good investment."

“At this point, it's unclear what resources the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will commit to the race. But on Wednesday, McAdams said he wasn't waiting on any help.” http://bit.ly/8ZQVsW

SCOTT BROWN TO THE RESCUE? Mr. 41 is on a west coast swing for Republicans, as Tamara Audi reports for The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire: “Republicans are hoping that Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown can energize voters and donors on the West Coast.

“Brown, the truck-driving GOP candidate who captured the Bay State special election last January, spent the week campaigning with Republican contenders on the West Coast. He campaigned alongside Dino Rossi, who is locked in a tight Senate race with Democratic incumbent Patty Murray in Washington state, and California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay who is running against Democrat Jerry Brown, the Golden State’s current attorney general and former governor.

“This afternoon, Scott Brown was in Burbank with GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, the day after her bruising debate with Sen. Barbara Boxer, the incumbent Democrat. Brown and Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, met with volunteers at a Republican campaign office in Burbank.” http://bit.ly/auwfk

KIDS THESE DAYS: Are they trending Republican? Not quite. But this NYT story by Kirk Johnson is a warning sign for Dems: “The college vote is up for grabs this year — to an extent that would have seemed unlikely two years ago, when a generation of young people seemed to swoon over Barack Obama.

“Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008. “Is the recession, which is hitting young people very hard, doing lasting or permanent damage to what looked like a good Democratic advantage with this age group?” asked Scott Keeter, the director of survey research at the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan group. “The jury is still out.”

“How and whether millions of college students vote will help determine if Republicans win enough seats to retake the House or Senate, overturning the balance of power on Capitol Hill, and with it, Mr. Obama’s agenda.” http://nyti.ms/9z3iKg

OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY with MJ LEE:

HUMBLED CONGRESSMAN: Rep. Rep Mel Watt reacts after being cleared of allegations by an ethics panel. Jim Morrill in the Charlotte Observer: “‘After practicing law for 22years and serving in Congress for 18 years, it has been very humbling and emotionally draining to have been for the first time in my life the focus of a review ... that implied or called into question my personal or professional honesty and integrity,’ he said in a statement Wednesday. Watt was among eight House members investigated by the Office of Congressional Ethics for fundraising activities that took place around the time of a key vote last year on financial regulatory overhaul.” http://bit.ly/d7jHj8

SIN CITY: Barbara Ross and Kathleen Lucadamo in the New York Post: “The leading contender to dethrone Rep. Charles Rangel took thousands in campaign cash from an ex-con Wall Streeter who owns a notorious Bronx strip club. Asked about the donations on Wednesday, Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell 4th told the Daily News he would return the money. But Powell had trouble keeping his story straight on what he knew about Konstantine (Gus) Drakopoulos and the Sin City Cabaret when he accepted the cash.

“‘Wow,’ Powell repeated six times after he was told Drakopoulos pleaded guilty to insider trading in 2002 and was recently slapped with a racial and sexual harassment suit by dancers at his club. ‘I don't want to hear any more. Jesus Christ, that's quite a résumé,’ said Powell ... ‘I'm going to return the money. I want no part of anybody like that.’” http://bit.ly/d4MH5v

JUSTICE HARRY REID: Steve Tetreault in the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “In an item that says something about the public's knowledge of the U.S. Supreme Court or their awareness of the Senate majority leader -- or both -- 4 percent of people quizzed in a Pew Research current events survey this summer thought Sen. Harry Reid is chief justice of the Supreme Court. Only 28 percent were able correctly to identify John Roberts as the chief justice. By comparison, 85 percent were familiar with Twitter.” http://bit.ly/b9FpkF

TEA PARTY = THE NEW GOP?: Liz Sidoti in the Associated Press: “Is the tea party the new Republican Party? The grass-roots network of fed-up conservative-libertarian voters displayed its power in its biggest triumph of the election year: the toppling of Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska's GOP primary. Political novice Joe Miller is the fifth tea party insurgent to win a GOP Senate nominating contest, an upset that few, if any, saw coming. … The tea party has taken hold in the Grand Old Party, unseating lawmakers, capturing nominations for open seats and forcing Republicans to recalibrate both their campaign strategy and issues agenda. Out is talk of delivering federal dollars back home; in is talk of fiscal discipline.” http://bit.ly/cYrK1i

SPENDING RACE: Craig Gilbert in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the tough battle ahead for Sen. Russ Feingold: “First-time GOP candidate Ron Johnson is dramatically outspending Senate Democrat Russ Feingold on television in Wisconsin, underscoring the political challenge facing Feingold in what's expected to be a dire year for his party.

“Johnson has spent $4 million on broadcast TV in the state, compared with $1.4 million for Feingold, according to CMAG, a northern Virginia firm that tracks television advertising. A wealthy Oshkosh businessman, Johnson has made it clear he's prepared to spend millions of his own money on the race. He only entered the race in May. The two are running roughly even in statewide polls.” http://bit.ly/cyCMqW

TBD WASHINGTON WEATHER: Expect a mix of sun and clouds today with breezy highs near 90 degrees. Those to the far west will have more sun and may be wondering what storm? A cold front later in the day will usher in a spectacular weekend. Look for sunshine, low humidity and cooler highs near 80 degrees to carry us through the weekend.

If American citizens can honestly look at somebody like Fiorina, and say "Yeah, she killed off 30,000 American jobs, sent jobs overseas, that's what we need more of." then we really are in big trouble..... I would like to see some of these Democrats who are so afraid being voted out of office get real, and do what they were sent there to do, pass legislation that's good for the American people. Quit trying to be career politicians! Pass term limits and campaign finance reform, do something to fix the economy, if you get voted out, go work for a living like the rest of us!

What's in turmoil is our economy! The United States has been shipping jobs overseas by the millions, no work, no money. No money, no spend. No spend, no business. No business, no work. It's called a vicious circle. The corporate powers that be have come to expect higher profit MARGINS every single quarter! That is simply not sustainable over the long term. What ever happened to just making a fair profit for a fair service or product? You can't just keep outsourcing to the lowest bidder anywhere on the planet and then expect your own country to do well. I like business people, we need them in Government, but we need the ones with a record a being pro-America, not just pro-profit at any cost. The ends do not always justify the means.

The Obama administration would be be wise to read and consider the following passage from der Spiegel:

Obama's Misguided Approach America Has Become Too European A Commentary by Thomas Straubhaar

"....

Loss of Faith

This raises a crucial question: Is the US economy perhaps suffering less from an economic downturn and more from a serious structural problem? It seems plausible that the American economy has lost its belief in American principles. People no longer have confidence in the self-healing forces of the private sector, and the reliance on self-help and self-regulation to solve problems no longer exists.

The opposite strategy, one that seeks to treat the American patient with more government, is risky -- because it does not fit in with America's image of itself.

In Europe, the state is the result of centuries of struggle by relatively homogeneous societies and it has always played a major role in European societies. Therefore, a broad majority of the population supports economic policies based on government intervention, especially in difficult times. And Germany's current successes in dealing with the crisis suggest that the Europeans are probably right in their approach. The German economy will probably grow more this year than the American one. In Europe, government-prescribed medicine goes down well.

But what is good for Europe and Germany does not automatically work for the US. The settlers of the New World rejected everything, which included throwing out anything with a semblance of state authority. They fled Europe to find freedom. The sole shared goal of the settlers was to obtain individual freedom and live independently, which included the freedom to say what they wanted, believe what they wanted and write what they wanted. The state was seen as a way to facilitate this goal. The state should not interfere in people's lives, aside from securing freedom, peace and security. Economic prosperity was seen as the responsibility of the individual.

End of the American Way?

If you take this belief away from Americans, you are destroying the binds which interlink America's heterogeneous society. Removing this belief could lead to conflicts between different sections of society, clashes which have long bubbled beneath the surface."

I have no racial, ethnic, or religious ties to my fellow Americans. The promise of individualism and freedom tie me to this place and this random assortment of people. Remove that tie and remove my reason for being here, being an American, and being generous with my neighbors.

skint, we are in agreement! We need better regulation, and laws with teeth to force these companies to play fair or pay up big time! We live to live up to our credo as an egalitarian capitalist society.

Gee, another stimulus. I wonder what they're going to call it? I can imagine some rosy malapropism, like the ones we're used to...maybe another "Putting Americans Back to Work Act" or "Recovery Act." If only there were a bs filter on Google, so we could see the names for what they really are: "Corporate Welfare for Big Business Act" and "Political Bribery for Unions Act," or perhaps the "Hooking Up Our Boys in Big Government Act".

We need drastic spending cuts, followed by a flat tax rate that decreases after the deficit has been paid off. We need to stop trying to be the world's police, and instead focus solely on Defense. We need to start spending our money in a way that reflects our morals--that's how you get things done (that means paying the extra 30% and buying something made in the USA as opposed to China [I'm guilty of this, too]). We need the government to stop trying to use Jedi mind tricks to try and convince us that they're not to blame--the government spend 400 times how much Wal-Mart is worth -every year-, so no one is to blame more than they. We need the government to stop trying to pretend that they can solve all of our problems better than we can ourselves. We need to stop letting the government distract us by injecting race, gender, etc. into the equation, and instead look at the results they're getting: I've never seen as much racism as I do today (I'm 34).

We, as individuals, need to step up and spend our own money to help educate those that show potential, as well as invest in businesses that will provide the less fortunate with an opportunity. We need freedom, not self-righteous bureaucrats...and we need to look back to the values that once made this country great: tolerance, forgiveness, hard work, individual responsibility, innovation, caring, selflessness and heroism...in short, we need to return to Christianity...not as the media portrays, but as written in the Bible.

alienprophecy, I have been proposing a bs filter! I call it the "Truth In News And Disseminated Media" mandate! No TV program, or radio talk show or website could get a "News" designation unless they continually pass fact checking by an independent organization. Anyone who wants to exercise their first amendment rights will still be free to do so, they just won't be able to pass off lies as fact because after every commercial or station break they have to have a lead in to the effect of " This program is opinion not based in fact, and is not designated as news, please enjoy your entertainment."